Place Your Bets: Will Jesse Ventura Go To Jail Due To His Latest Gig?

Nick Gillespie | November 16, 2005

Jesse the Body (read Reason interview here) and E! Channel utility hottie Brooke Burke are among the celebs who are now shilling for online casinos (oh for the days when Sinatra shilled for OTB). The catch? Internet gambling is still kind of illegal:

There is a big potential catch: these stars and others who profit by promoting offshore casinos could be putting themselves in legal jeopardy. The government considers these Internet sports books to be violating American law by providing unlicensed gambling on domestic shores.

Further, the government has said in the past that it could prosecute Americans who promote and assist such foreign operations for effectively aiding and abetting their illegal activities.

"There's a good chance they are criminally liable for the crime itself," said I. Nelson Rose, a professor at Whittier Law School in California and the author of "The Law of Internet Gaming." For celebrities who draw attention from law enforcement officials, he said, "the downside danger is enormous."

More here. The ultimate status of online gambling in the US remains a bit of a mystery. Reason covered the debate years ago here and here and here.

One final note: Another celebrity shill for online gaming is Jim Kelly, former QB for the old USFL Houston Gamblers (if memory serves) and best-known as a quadruple Superbowl loser with a vaunted porcelain clown collection. As someone who lived in Buffalo for the first three years they tanked in the 'bowl (granted, the first game was a real heartbreaker), I recommend to all Americans--at the risk of breaking the law and jeopardizing Reason's 501(c)(3) status--that you always bet against Jim Kelly.

And one more thing: Ventura should go to jail not for online casino shilling but for his short-lived MSNBC tv show.

Comments

|11.16.05 @ 3:28PM|#

Brooke Burke

Unable to read the rest of the post due to all the blood rushing away from my brain.

Vision narrowing, tunnel-like ... spots dancing before eyes ... groping for ejection-seat handle ...

fyodor|11.16.05 @ 3:33PM|#

I would think living in Buffalo would be heartbreak enough!

|11.16.05 @ 3:36PM|#

http://biz.yahoo.com/fool/050906/112603307510.html?.v=2

Tony Blair says to Bush, let 'em come over here to get their companies listed.

|11.16.05 @ 3:37PM|#

I love Jesse Ventura. He may not be the ideal libertarian governor, but I remember this thing that he said about his stint as an XFL commentator:

"All the other governors spend their weekends raising campaign funds, but I don't do that. So I figured I'd get a second job instead. I've always had a second job, even when I was a Navy SEAL."

How many other governors have played scary agents on especially freakish X-Files episodes? And with Alex Trebek as the co-star, no less?

|11.16.05 @ 3:41PM|#

What's a utility hottie?

|11.16.05 @ 3:48PM|#

BTW, the above Ventura quote was a paraphrase.

|11.16.05 @ 3:59PM|#

A hottie that can be inserted where needed into the lineup.

|11.16.05 @ 4:10PM|#

He had that really scary gatling gun and that was pretty cool. I still don't know how he carried all those rounds though.

|11.16.05 @ 4:26PM|#

Sounds about as illegal as ripping the mattress tag off.

|11.16.05 @ 4:41PM|#

The Body advertises for betus.com of which i am familiar. They are a real casino in Costa Rica and they are also bonded in Canada (and have a corp office there). They even issue a busines profile each year listing their assets and all to attract U.S. customers who think the whole on-line gambling thing is shady. I thought it was kind of strage to see a former U.S. pol in a business prospectus for an on-line site, but that is cool with me. Almost made me re-join, especially now that they take on-line payment. You used to have to wire money by Western Union to Nicaragua to up the account.

|11.16.05 @ 4:49PM|#

Careful, Nick. Poking fun at the govt's attempts to shut down these casinos could be interpreted as aiding and abetting them...

|11.16.05 @ 4:56PM|#

Predator,

You're wondering how he carried the ROUNDS? The gun itself is a three man lift, at least. It was at least believable to see the Terminator carry it around; he's super strong.

|11.16.05 @ 5:19PM|#

sage-

Yet another feature that I want in my "movie gun". I've said before that I want a gun that has no recoil, unlimited ammo, and perfect accuracy. I should also add ultra lightweight and perfectly concealable even under a form-fitting outfit.

The only problem with movie guns is that they tend to jam when there's only one bad guy remaining. Of course, his movie gun also jams, and then there's a fist fight. I don't want a fist fight, so I'll carry a real gun as backup.

Warren|11.16.05 @ 6:24PM|#

Ventura should go to jail not for online casino shilling but for his short-lived MSNBC tv show.

I'm going to have to stick up for his short-lived show on that.

|11.16.05 @ 11:51PM|#

thoreau, don't you know by now? Only the bad guy pulls out another gun/knife/whatever during the fistfight, because he's always a treacherous snake, but he gets it slapped away so the hero can win, impale him on a grappling hook conveyor, and watch the bad guy slowly get dragged through the molten steel in the foundry to die in the most gruesomely spectacular way ever...

...or at least, that was in the Cannon Group movie I saw on DVD last weekend.

|11.17.05 @ 8:33AM|#

I can't vouch for the TV show, but his weekly radio show Lunch With The Governor was cool. I once heard him answer a caller's question by saying, "I don't know." When was the last time you heard a politician give such a short and honest answer?

|11.17.05 @ 11:15AM|#

Thoreau--

Based on the movies I've seen, if your gun jams you can still seriously damage the Bad Guy by simply throwing your gun at him.

|11.17.05 @ 12:16PM|#

Or you can take out the "bad guy" with your auto-destruct mechanism.

|11.17.05 @ 1:05PM|#

Based on the movies I've seen, if your gun jams you can still seriously damage the Bad Guy by simply throwing your gun at him.

Not even Superman is immune to this. Just watch the old series from back in the 1950's. Bad guy empties revolver at Superman, who stands there and takes it. Then bad guy throws empty gun at Superman...who ducks.

|11.17.05 @ 1:17PM|#

As for movie guns, the one I want is that double-barrelled pump-action shotgun that Moe on The Simpsons has. I've been looking all over for one. :)

Can anyone out there help me?

|11.17.05 @ 8:57PM|#

Bartram,
I'm not a gun nut, but you either have a double-barrel or you have a pump... I thought.
If I'm wrong, you can continue to search in the comics.

|11.18.05 @ 12:23PM|#

...you either have a double-barrel or you have a pump...

Tell that to the creators of the Simpsons.

The sight (and sound) of a double-barrelled pump-action shotgun makes for a hell of a sight (and sound) gag.

What I'm wondering is whether the creators of the Simpsons are as aware of the gag as I am.

ogoplex|11.21.05 @ 10:51PM|#

Og�plex Pure Extract, for lack of a better term, is a male orgasm intensifier. The strength and duration of an orgasm is dependant on many factors. The number and intensity of the physical contractions, along with the coinciding semen release are pleasure factors that when enhanced, lead to a much better climax! ? Og�plex Pure Extract is a pure flower seed e